Safari: More solutions for connectivity issues; Problems with Yahoo! Plus e-mail

More solutions for connectivity issues Over the past few days (see reports 1 and 2) we have been covering an issue where Safari refuses to connect to some Web sites on the first, or even second try, sometimes requiring multiple attempts. Previously reported solutions -- in the aforementioned articles -- include deleting corrupt preference files, re-applying the combo updater, and most successfully a workaround that involves enabling Mac OS X's DNS server.

We've since received word of a few more solutions that are working individually for some readers.

Check the /Library/StartupItems for duplicate folders MacFixIt reader Bruce Klutchko reports that duplicate "Broadband Optimizer" files in his /Library/StartupItems folder, when deleted, resulted in more instantaneous connectivity for Safari:

"The problem resulted from using any one of a number of system maintenance utilities, such as Xupport (Optimize Setting for Broadband Connection) Control Freak (Optimize Buffers for Broadband), etc. The problem seems to be that settings are changed on booting up that turn off delayed acknowledgements and increase the buffer size for transmit and receive. One of these settings seems to cause this problem with Safari, while only modestly increasing the overall speed. (I believe it might be setting the delayed acknowledgements to zero, but I?m not certain).

"These modifications are made by placing files into the /Library/StartupItems folder. On looking into this I found no less than three nearly identical folders, each created by a separate application, with its own name. Inside is a .plist file and a second file usually called something like 'Broadband Optimizer.' Removing these files and restarting has cured 99% of the problem."

Safari .plist file Some users have reported that simply deleting the com.apple.Safari.plist located in username/Library/Preferences/ and restarting Safari resolved some connectivity issues.

Problems with Yahoo! Plus e-mail MacFixIt reader Navarro Parker reports some interface problems with the newly active, 2GB Yahoo! Plus e-mail service:

"My Yahoo Plus! email account just got upgraded to a 2GB account last night. However, the new email interface is not entirely compatible with Safari 1.2.2.

"These new square buttons simply are not clickable in Safari.

"I tried Camino 0.8b and it worked fine. It also works fine in Firefox 0.8.0+ and OmniWeb 5.0b7. So there's something specifically wrong with Safari that prevents these buttons from being clicked."

If you are experiencing a similar problem, please drop us a line at late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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